Winter arrived in full force early this afternoon, a major nor'east blizzard that's howling,
gale-force winds and steady snowfall still. Hearing a TV weatherman
forecast "bombogenesis," I set the arm on Chip Ahoy's
barometer
(now mounted on the kitchen wall) at about noon. It has
plunged almost to its peg. (Dec. 26, 2010)

Barbara's cat, Gilly, watched the wild turkeys arrive and
feed as we all await the storm's arrival. With the new cat door I
recently installed for him and another neighbor's cat, Ozzie, the two
come and go whenever.

The turkeys, no doubt sensing the
impending storm, appear to
want inside too.

By late afternoon the storm arrived in
full force.

Chip Ahoy is faring well, as expected.
The strong northeast wind is blowing the snow off the covering tarp, as
planned for the winter prevailing wind. (Dec. 27, 2010)

The birdfeeders are another story.
They're plugged full of beating snow. I just got back in from clearing
and refilling them, by snowshoes. I could hear the chirps of cheers from
the feathered flock.

While the blizzard was still raging outside, indoors with the
wood stove blazing life was warm and cozy.

In preparation for being snowbound, I'd stacked the
kitchen rack over-brimming with firewood. I'm ready to ride it out for at least a few
days until I can get across the yard for more.

The snow ended early afternoon on Monday, so it was time
to get out there and start moving it out of the way. In Marblehead, we
got about 18 inches by my measurement.

Though a light, almost powdery snow, the strong winds
drifted it randomly. The snowblower handled it well, fortunately.

The trail to Barbara's house next door.

A few hours later, I had many paths cleared.

By dusk I was done, in more ways than one -- enough for
one day.

There's nothing more I can do but wait until the snowplow arrives
and clears the front lot to the street.

December 28, 2010

The Boston Globe
Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Wild, woolly, and gone
Nor’easter takes its toll on region,
but the timing tempers impact
By Michael Levenson and Noah Bierman

The storm that socked
Massachusetts the day after Christmas knocked out power for tens
of thousands, flooded towns along the South Shore, ignited
scattered house fires, stranded travelers, and strained
countless backs and knees with record-setting snows piled high
by blowing winds.

But the timing of the mammoth nor’easter, at the end of a
holiday weekend when schools are out and many people are on
vacation, meant area residents were able to hunker down at home
and stay off the roads. And ample warning from meteorologists
gave crews plenty of time to treat roadways.

The storm did not cause any reported deaths in the state. Car
crashes were minimal. It was, for many, an extended holiday, a
chance to nibble on leftovers and let the children play with new
toys, or romp outside with saucers and sleds.

By the time the storm rumbled out of Massachusetts and into
northern New England yesterday afternoon, it had dumped 18.2
inches of snow in Boston, making it the city’s 10th largest
snowfall since the National Weather Service began keeping
official records in 1892.

After all data are in, the storm may qualify, officially, as a
blizzard, by meeting two criteria: sustained wind gusts of 35
miles per hour and visibility of less than a quarter-mile for
three consecutive hours, according to Nicole Belk, a weather
service meteorologist in Taunton....

At its peak, during the early
hours yesterday, 55,000 people lost power, mostly in
Southeastern Massachusetts, as snow and high winds overtook
power lines and downed utility poles.

Scituate was the hardest-hit community in Eastern Massachusetts.
Several dozen residents were rescued from flood waters in
pontoon boats, and two houses caught fire.

Scituate and other South Shore towns opened temporary shelters
for 65 people whose homes had been flooded or lost power. But
even in those areas, most toughed it out under blankets or found
refuge with relatives.

Officials attributed the relatively low amount of overall
property damage to the accurate forecasts, which allowed them to
salt and plow roads before, during, and after the storm, and
gave residents time to get out of the way. At the storm’s peak,
the state deployed nearly 4,000 trucks and plows to salt and
clear roads.

“We just dodged a bullet here, and we’re happy to say that,’’
said Colonel Marian J. McGovern, superintendent of the
Massachusetts State Police. She said there were about 100
spinouts across the state, but no serious injuries on the roads.
A tractor-trailer on Interstate 495 in Westborough overturned
Sunday night, spilling some fuel but causing no delays. A truck
crashed on Route 9 in Newton, taking down two electrical poles.

The Salem NewsTuesday, December 28, 2010

Withstanding the storm
Girls rescued from brook,
homes lose power in winter's first rough patch

No matter how many times we've
seen it before, that first major snowfall of the season comes as
a stunner. Cars skid, shovels sell out and kids underestimate
winter's cruelty....

In Marblehead, the causeway
was closed at high tide. Front Street "took a whopping,"
Marblehead police Sgt. Marion Keating said.

On Beacon Street around 3 a.m. Bill Kinney heard what "sounded
like a gunshot." An enormous pine tree had splintered and fallen
into the road, bringing down four utility poles and cutting
power to eight homes. Kinney noted he'd never seen anything like
it in more than 20 years on the street.

Blizzard brings Greater Lynn
area to heel
By Jeff McMenemy and Chris Stevens

A major blizzard dumped close
to 20 inches of snow on the region, closing city and town halls
as officials enacted snow emergencies so crews could clear the
streets.

Flood waters closed two roads in Swampscott for a few hours
early Monday morning and there were reports of minor flooding in
Revere.

There was also some scattered power outages in Swampscott thanks
to a stinging and powerful wind, and reports of numerous minor
accidents in the area....

In Swampscott, Public Works
director Gino Cresta ordered two streets to be blocked off early
Monday morning at high tide between 3 a.m.-5 a.m. because of
flooding concerns.

It turned out to be a smart decision.

"At Humphrey Street we had about a foot of water," Cresta said.
"On Puritan Road, we had close to two feet."...

In Marblehead, at least eight
homes near the intersection of Beacon and Norman streets lost
power due to downed poles and lines Sunday night. Crews were at
work restoring power to the area all day Monday.

Crashing wind-driven waves took out a section of guardrail at
Fort Sewall during the night and carried it into the street.

Fire Captain Michael Porter said at one point overnight the
waves flooding the Causeway were coming from both sides, the
harbor as well as the ocean side. The Causeway had to be closed
down briefly due to flooding, isolating Marblehead Neck.

Overall, however, Police Sgt. Marion Keating, the officer in
charge of the Marblehead police day shift, said of the clean-up,
"People stayed off the streets. That's really the key, and the
snow removal people worked like crazy cleaning the streets."

Bob Donovan came by late last night and plowed out the
lot on his way home. He missed a section where I usually park, outside
the front door, but at least Barbara and I can drive out of the lot.
(Dec. 28, 2010)

It took another morning with the snowblower to clear out
the paths, open up a few more. The photo above is the path to the
birdfeeders out back, taken from my office balcony.

The path out to the shed, cleared again, along with one
to the birdfeeders in the side yard.

The path between my side door and Barbara's house has
drifted over heavily, like waves, and needed some serious re-clearing.

I began attacking the section Bob had missed, but eating
into the packed plow residue was tough going with the snowblower ...

I attacked it from the front end but gave up, hoping Bob
would be back for his usual clean-up sweep.

Chip Ahoy, behind the mountain of plowed snow.

The path out to the shed, another around the shed to
where I dump the stove ashes on a growing mound.

A good example of the wind-driven drifting, with deeper
snow over the low ground, blown off the higher ground.

December 29-30, 2010

With a clear path to the outside firewood racks, it was
time to resupply the kitchen rack. The new cart with bicycle wheels
Barbara bought for my birthday last month is a major improvement over
the old cart with its small, plastic wheels. (Dec. 29, 2010)

I'd loaded the kitchen rack with as much as it'd hold
before the storm, but the supply was dwindling.

Talk about dwindling supply, in the foreground in the
photo above, buried beneath the show, are the two racks I've already
emptied so far this season.

The gale-force northeast wind with
gusts to 60 mph kept Chip Ahoy pretty much
free of snow, so there was little to clean off.

Bob Donovan came by last evening with his Bobcat and did
his usual clean-up, getting rid of the heap of snow out front where I
usually park. I'm glad
I didn't continue killing myself attacking it!

Chip Mate the dinghy, on its sawhorses and held down with
lines tied to cinder blocks, fared the wind and snow well too. We're
supposed to have unseasonably warm temperature for the next few days
through the weekend, so all this effort will be but a bad memory come
next week. (Dec. 30, 2010)

What a difference a week makes!Exactly one week from the start of the blizzardSunday, January 2, 2011

One week ago at this time the snowflakes
had begun to fall.
This morning we were in thick fog. At midday the temperature is 49°
--
yesterday was sunny and in the mid-50s, so most evidence of last week's
storm is gone. (Jan. 2, 2010)

All those paths I spent so much time clearing of so much
snow are down to bare ground. Little of the snowfall remains, but for
the piles that were pushed out of the way.

The weather is supposed to remain fair for the coming
week, above freezing during daylight -- with another snowfall forecast for week's end
. . . grrr.

The front lot is clear, and the wild turkeys returned
yesterday for the first time this week. We were beginning to wonder if
they'd made it through the storm.

They're back again today for my handouts of sunflower
seeds and cracked corn. Gorged, they hang around until a better idea crosses their minds
and then wander off.

The path out to the birdfeeders out back, down to bare
grass and dirt where I'd cleared the snow.